lundi 19 mai 2008

"Branca's desire to work with a new sound he had developed caused him to design and build most of the instruments for the piece. Calling them "mallet guitars" he had created a dulcimer like instrument which when played resonated with a sustained fluid timbre.Although the instruments used guitar strings and guitar pickups the only actual conventional guitar used in the piece was a bass. Luckily Branca's musicians were willing to learn how to play these "guitars" which sat on tables and were played with sticks. This was also one of the few pieces in which Branca also used tape electronics. Although the piece had a rich resonant sound it was difficult to capture in a recording, a problem that Branca has had throughout his career. A studio recording was never made and the only document that exists is a crude live recording."

The "crude live recording" was released by Atavistic and is presented here, and features Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth playing the mallet guitars and Z'ev on percussion.